Kenya Airways drops Rome and Muscat, increases frequencies and capacity to other key destinations

KENYA AIRWAYS ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE CHANGES IN THE FACE OF PROFIT DROP

A statement received literally within hours of announcing full year financial results which showed a very significant increase in cost levels and a more than halved profit compared to the 2010/11 FY, the airline will with immediate effect suspend flights to Rome and Muscat. Both routes have reportedly underperformed, in the case of Rome at least in part attributed to the woes of the Euro Zone and the state of the Italian economy while demand to Muscat has clearly also not met expectations. However, flights to London will be upped to 10 a week, using the airlines largest aircraft a B777-300 with 322 seats while during the peak summer months Paris flights will be increased to 6 per week. The daily Amsterdam flight will also be switched to the larger B777-200, again adding capacity into a market place where demand remains strong and where in particular connecting traffic out of the United States is served.
The airline however has made also significant changes to some other destinations, adding three new evening departures to Dubai, which will now be served 10 times a week. The Lagos and Accra flights too are being combined now, giving Accra 12 frequencies per week with 9 flights to Lagos, increasing connectivity to KQs important West African market place. Flights to Nigerias capital Abuja will offer added options for Nigerians to connect to East Africa, the Gulf, India and China. Ndjamena flights have been upped to three times a week and flights to Dakar will now all route via Ouagadougou, giving the latter also 3 flights a week as a result of strong demand.
Easy and convenient connections out of Nairobi to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Bangkok and in particular to India, where Mumbai now has 10 weekly flights and the 3 Dehli flights have taken a strong hold in the market already, make flying with The Pride of Africa for many West Africans now their number one choice.
Kenya Airways CEO and Group Managing Director Dr. Titus Naikuni was quoted as having said: Owing to the decreased passenger volumes on these routes [to Rome and Muscat], we have decided to re-align our capacity across the entire network to meet growing demand on other destinations including new ones when asked to shed some light on both destinations being dropped from the schedule.
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